The Ohio State Buckeyes haven’t given Tavien St. Clair a shot at quarterback even with Julian Sayin out with an injury.
Instead, it’s been entirely the three-star true freshman Luke Fahey in the back-to-back losses to USC and Oregon.
It’s a situation that clearly has left some of the OSU fanbase confused. St. Clair is in his second year on campus and is a former five-star, in-state recruit from Bellefontaine. Generally, he’s the type of guy you’d expect to be playing right now.
But the Buckeyes have gone with Fahey, and even with a deficit as large as 38-14 against the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day stuck with the true freshman.
It’s not all Fahey’s fault, of course, but the confusion surrounding St. Clair hasn’t let up.
It wasn’t helped by his mother’s recent Facebook post, which was noticed by Ohio State followers.
Tavien St. Clair’s Mom Chimes In On Facebook
Tavien St. Clair’s mother appears to have posted on Facebook at the end of last week, before the Oregon game.
Her son was going to sit behind Fahey for the second consecutive game.
St. Clair’s mother shared “The Man in the Arena,” a famous monologue attributed to Teddy Roosevelt.
This is what the entire Facebook post said:
The Man In The Arena
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
SO THAT his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt
It’s certainly cryptic, but given that Ohio State fans are starting to become quite convinced that St. Clair probably isn’t thrilled with what’s happening, it has generated a lot of discussion.
What’s Next for Tavien St. Clair?
It’s hard to see this ending in the modern world of college football without a transfer from St. Clair.
That would be a brutal outcome for Ohio State, which hasn’t found a way to align with the top in-state quarterbacks from Ohio’s recruiting ranks in recent years. Getting St. Clair was a win, but not finding a way to turn him into a starting QB would be a loss.
There’s likely plenty that the public doesn’t know here, and so OSU fans are left wondering what can be gleaned from a long-ago Teddy Roosevelt tale.
Ohio State QB Tavien St. Clair’s Mom Adds To Confusion With Facebook Post